You’re the man!

James Wesolowski

ATHLETIC midfielder James Wesolowski has given caretaker manager Tony Philliskirk his full backing as the battle for npower League One survival reaches a critical stage.

Tomorrow’s clash at Tranmere will be Philliskirk’s seventh in temporary charge since the resignation of Paul Dickov on February 3.

So far under his watch there have been three league wins from four games 0and an FA Cup draw and a defeat against Everton, and Aussie midfielder Wesolowski has clearly been lifted by the impact Philliskirk is making.

“It’s going really well for us with Tony,” said Wesolowski.

“He’s come in and re-installed some much-needed confidence and we’re all playing with much more belief now.

“In fact we’ve all got much more faith in ourselves and each other.

“He’s brought a kind of freshness in and it’s really working.

“The decision on his future is completely out of my hands of course so whoever is in charge I’ll be just happy to play for Oldham Athletic, but Tony is undoubtedly doing a good job at the moment so hopefully he’ll continue to do that.”

Athletic have 12 games left to save their season — including two in hand on most of their rivals hovering around the bottom four — and Wesolowski clearly feels that his side are capable of picking up a priceless win tomorrow.

He added: “The main focus for all the players now is just staying in League One.

“It doesn’t matter about anything individually, now it’s just about the team getting the necessary points.”

ATHLETIC (probable, 4-4-2): Bouzanis; Brown, Tarkowski, Mvoto, Grounds; Croft, Furman (c), Baxter, Simpson; Smith, Barnard. Subs (from): Cisak, Wesolowski, Obita, Iwelumo, Murray, Mellor, Sutherland, Millar, Taylor.

TRANMERE (probable, 4-4-2): Fon Williams; Holmes, Taylor, Goodison (c), Bakayogo; O’Halloran, Power, Corry, Bell-Baggie; Sidibe, Akpa-Akpro. Subs (from): Mooney, Black, Palmer, Harrison, Stockton, Amoo, Daniels, Kay, McGurk.
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